MDI Transcript: Do Women Need Feminism? (Opening Presentation)

Following the hotly discussed MDI debate, ‘Do Women Need Feminism?’, with Natalie Bennett (UK Green Party Leader), the official MDI Transcript of my opening presentation is now, by popular demand, available for download.

Discussion

Great piece. I am an Indian Atheist (Ex-Hindu) living in the US now, and I had a couple of good Muslim friends growing up in School & College back in India. I am surprised at how much the Western Media has demonised the 3rd world cultures while pushing their insane, human nature defying feminism and other Neoliberal policies, so its great to see a woman set the record straight.

1) In Islam, women are liberated from the servitude of men, and liberated from the expectations of
other women
Can you explain what you mean by the portion in bold.. i.e “expectations of other women”.

2) In addition to the feminist community, even in the Atheist community, there is a whole lot of demonization of the way women are treated in Islam. I havent read any of the books by ex-muslims.. for eg Ayaan Hirsi Ali.. Have you (or any other female muslim scholars) addressed this?